A New Day

            What does God have in store for you today? My day started differently yesterday than what I had planned. I took my shower, dried off and reached down to remove the bandage from my foot. When I did, blood went everywhere including small streams arching and hitting the cats litter box. I knew I was in trouble and my wife managed to get me the phone and I dialed the emergency number. In a few minutes they arrived. It was our coldest day of the year so far. I was naked in front of four strange firemen and standing in a slippery pool of blood. The stretcher was outside and I got on and was immediately covered up with sheets and blankets and so began my well planned day. Everything quickly changed. The hospital doctors and nurses took care of the problem, wrapping my foot in a football shape of pressure bandage thus stopping the loss of blood. Now began the process of waiting for the paper work to catch up with me. Our son was with me but would pop in and out for this or that doing some of the paperwork and getting the car up to the door. I med a lot of new people and almost always ask them where they are from and where they go to church. It begins the conversation. I met a nurse from Wisconsin. I guessed she might be Lutheran but she was a former Catholic who was now Baptist. She gave me the short story as to how that took place. While no one was around, I began singing all of the hymns I know from memory which are not a lot. I wasn't singing too loud as the mask shielded some of the sound. I knew the comfort of the Scriptures. Hebrews 13:5 says, “Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.” 

           This verse has a lot applications. Being on blood thinners, I knew the time frame and the number, 7 minutes, kept popping into my mind but it wasn't my time yet even though I am in overtime anyway. When God is finished, He is finished and so in the meantime, why not sing a hymn or two or find out where all of these overworked servants are from? They usually tell me a lot more when I give them more information that I am a retired pastor. The truth of today's verse is not only during the cliff hangers of your life but also the simple and perhaps mundane times also. God is with you during your morning devotions or when you are driving to work or off on an errand. There are two words I usually don't use and they are “always” and “never.” God can use them because He can actually do what He promised. If He says He will never leave us, then it is true all of the time and not just part of the time, almost all of the time. It is always. Whether bombs are falling or you are drinking coffee on the deck, God is always with the believer. What a comfort that is. While you may not know how life is going to turn out today, rest in the fact that God will “never” leave you. Praise God for His promises.